A sample of gadolinium
8 September 2023
Gadolinium is a silvery-white metal with atomic number 64 and the symbol Gd. It is named after mineralogist Johan Gadolin (1760–1852), who in 1794 discovered a silicate of yttrium, beryllium, and iron with traces of other elements in the mine at Ytterby, Sweden. In 1801, Louis Nicolas Vauquelin dubbed the mineral gadolinite.
In 1880 Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac detected the oxide of the gadolinium via spectroscopy in a sample of gadolinite, and the pure element was isolated in 1886 by Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In an 1886 communication with de Boisbaudran, Marignac dubbed it gadolinium.
Sources:
Miśkowiec, Pawel. “Name Game: The Naming History of the Chemical Elements: Part 2—Turbulent Nineteenth Century.” Foundations of Chemistry, 8 December 2022. DOI: 10.1007/s10698-022-09451-w.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, June 2018, gadolinium, n., gadolinite, n.
Vauquelin, Louis Nicolas. “Analysis of a Stone Called the Gadolinite.” The Philosophical Magazine, vol. 8, January 1801, 366–75 at 368. Biodiversity Heritage Library. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/53001#page/386/mode/1up
Image credit: unknown photographer, 2010. Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.